City waives building permit fees for flood repair projects

Madison city residents needing to make repairs or other improvements to their property because of flooding this fall will not need to pay a fee for a building permit from the city.  Madison City Commissioners on Monday approved a resolution waiving the building permit application fees related to flood damages that occurred within the timeframe of the recent federal presidential disaster declaration.  

The disaster declaration was approved on November 18th and helps provide assistance through FEMA or other agencies to those who encountered flooding between September 9th and the 26th. 

The city still requires that property owners get a building permit for their flood repair projects, but the fees on those will be waived for one year from the date of the disaster declaration (or until November 18th of 2020).  City Engineer Chad Comes said that the city’s Building Official will have the discretion of determining if the waiver deadline needs to be extended for particular projects.  

Commissioners decided to consider the resolution after Madison resident Scott Parsley addressed them last week regarding the amount of the building permit for St. John’s Lutheran Church to repair its flood damage.  Parsley asked commissioners to reconsider charging the fee for those making repairs because of a natural disaster.